The present invention pertains to vehicle visors and particularly visors having a folded, molded core.
Visors for vehicles and particularly those employing an illuminated vanity mirror insert such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,470 have been manufactured using a clamshell-type folded polymeric core made of a suitable polymeric material such as polypropylene. In earlier visor construction, such as that disclosed in the above identified patent, the edge of the upholstered visor was trimmed using a trim bead and in some cases the trim bead was attached to the edge of the core by stitching through the polymeric material itself although this method was quite difficult. The clamshell visor core was also held together in some cases using cement or with interlocking arms as shown by element 48 in FIG. 6 of the above identified patent. The interlocking arms, however, were used in connection with the edge bead which assisted in holding the visor core halves together and in some instances rivets were also employed for holding the visor core halves together.
Subsequent to this earlier technology, visor halves were bonded together using in some cases heat fusion or through an adhesive material as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,990. In connection with this newer construction, the edge bead was eliminated and the upholstery fabric was wrapped around the edges of the visor core halves prior to the folding of the clamshell-type core together. Thus, the folded core halves provided a duel function. First they folded in an assembled position for the visor shape but also, the edges served to clamp the edge of the fabric around the periphery of the visor core to provide a neat and trim appearance without allowing the fabric to pull from the abutting peripheral edges of the visor core. The utilization of the fusion process worked successfully, however, it adds the additional steps of either heat fusing the core halves prior to folding and/or using an adhesive material either for bonding the core halves together and/or attaching the upholstery to the core prior to the folding and bonding of the core halves together. U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,938 discloses a foam core visor with a wire frame and one or more braces with snap together pins and holes. The visor cover is wrapped around the core halves and extends between them.
Thus, although the newer generation clamshell-type visors have an improved appearance by removing the edge bead and provide a folded core with some cores of sufficiently rigid construction and having a depth sufficient for inserting an illuminated vanity mirror therein, the manufacturing of such visors is somewhat expensive due to the foam core construction or the attachment of the upholstery material to the visor core and the subsequent bonding of the core halves together.